Bestial Devastation [EP] Review

Released: 1990Genre: Death Metal, Black Metal, Thrash MetalLabel: Cogumelo RecordsNumber Of Tracks: 6
The tracks on this EP are still regarded by many as one of the most influential metal releases, and one of the first death metal releases. It's amazing how these four guys, just around the age of 15, made such a brutal, heavy and highly influential metal record.

Bestial Devastation [EP]
Reviewed by:
iommi600, on december 21, 2011 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Sound: By 1985, Sepultura had just signed up with Cogumelo Records, which allowed them to record this EP, a split album with Overdose's "Sculo XX" (another Brazilian metal classic). The 4 tracks on this EP are still regarded by many as one of the most influential metal releases, and one of the first death metal releases. While you can see later albums like "Schizophrenia" and "Beneath The Remains" moving towards thrash metal, on this EP and in their first full-length, "Morbid Visions", the band sounds more like death metal or early black metal. The instruments sounds very raw and the production is very poor (something we can expect from a then new band, with lack of money and signed up to a small record label), but nothing that compromises the listening of the album. Surely, this is one of the most brutal albums ever made by Sepultura. Guitarists Max Cavalera and Jairo Guedez made some really brutal riffs, bassist Paulo Jr. does his work and Igor Cavalera's skills really impress for his age (he was 15 years old when Sepultura recorded this), with him even playing insane blast beats at "Antichrist". This is another great record coming from the 80's Brazilian metal scene in Belo Horizonte, featuring young guys with the desire to play metal music. Probably, they had no idea of how big they would get. // 9

Lyrics: Overall, the lyrics are not very impressive. They basically talk about satanism, death and destruction. The band would later assume influences from Venom and Celtic Frost/Hellhammer on the lyrics. The band first wrote the lyrics for the songs in portuguese, but then decided to translate them to English. At the time, the band didn't know how to write in English, so they've asked a friend to translate the lyrics. And almost all the lyrics feature a few misspelled words. Max Cavalera's voice here is just manic death metal growls and evil screams, not as powerful as his voice sounds on records like "Arise", but still very powerful. // 8

Overall Impression: This is a faithful register of four young guys with the desire of playing intense metal. It's amazing how these four guys, just around the age of 15, made such a brutal, heavy and highly influential metal record. I would highlight "Necromancer" and "Antichrist" here on this album, but in my opinion all four tracks are over the average and brutal. Really nice. If you're a fan of thrash/death metal, you probably like or love this. // 9